Couples who travel and blog: Sam & Zab

Couples who travel and blog: Sam & Zab

As you know, we have started introducing you to our favorite traveling couples and decided to make this a series. Next up in our spotlight are Sam and Zab of the blog Indefinite Adventure, two British guys who left London behind back in 2013, and have been traveling since then!

Sam and Zab: The vegan digital nomads

Last month, I was sharing with you my amazement when it comes to the diversity of couples I write about for the series “couples who blog and travel”. When Sam and Zab contacted me, I knew their story would certainly be no exception. “We are Sam and Zab, a gay, vegan, digital nomad British couple” they said. “We met in 2005, when we were both living in London. And two years ago, we got married.” Intrigued by their unique story, I requested an interview. I wanted to know more about their passion for travel, food and digital nomadism. And I was also willing to know what had made them leave London behind…

“We only really started travelling together long term at the beginning of 2013,” they told me. “We flew on one-way tickets to Buenos Aires, Argentina and spent the following months travelling across South America. We always knew we wanted to travel together, but it took us several years to make it a possibility…” Being pretty crazy about South America myself, I asked them what had made them choose their initial destination and what makes them travel to a place in general. “We are driven by several things, but top of the list of factors are definitely the food, an interest in the language and culture and how livable the place seems to be.” they answer. “Since we like to travel slowly as much as possible, we enjoy spending several weeks or even a month in a destination, which will ideally be a place that’s also good to work from! We are also trying to make more and more useful vegan city guides, so we are always driven to visit places with a vibrant or up-and-coming vegan scene to show people just how many vegan options there are when travelling to new places.”

Vegan city-guides, I like the idea! And you find a lot more interesting topics to read about once you get on their website. How did it all start? I ask. Sam explains: “I am the one behind writing the blog. Zab certainly does contribute, and I often ask for his input, but he has other work to do while we’re travelling. This platform started as a way to keep our friends, family and stalkers up to date on where we were and what we were doing. The name, Indefinite Adventure, was meant to be something that could be flexible and fit even if our lifestyle changed.”

The vegan/digital nomad section is the one that I found the most interesting. But I can’t help but ask: was it a way to make their blog stand out, or just something they were truly enthusiastic about?”Part of being a blogger is getting to know all the other bloggers, especially those in your niche(s). Now, I feel like we know all of the other vegan travel bloggers, and many of the other gay travel bloggers, so sometimes it doesn’t feel like we stand out much among all these amazing people because of those aspects of the blog!” Sam says. “I write about travelling as a vegan, and as a digital nomad because I enjoy writing about those things and sharing my experiences. Sometimes, those experiences might not be entirely unique and someone else might have already said what I want to say. Nonetheless, I will continue writing about it, because I believe the combination of being gay, vegan, digital nomads is indeed unique and makes us stand out, so hopefully some people will be intrigued to read about our experiences and recommendations.”

Sam and Zab traveled for a few years and eventually settled in Germany. “Since we have work that we can do from more or less anywhere as long as we have a wifi connection, we don’t specifically need to be here, but we like it and stay because we really enjoy the community of friends we’ve made here and feel that living there gives us a good quality of life. We don’t have any plans to leave permanently, though we do still enjoy travelling away for short trips as well as longer ones, especially over the cold and grey Berlin winter!”

Though their traveling lifestyle has changed over the years, they rarely say no to new trip opportunities. “We have some short trips coming up to visit friends and family in the Netherlands, Bavaria, Austria and Scotland, and we may also make a trip just for us to somewhere in southern Europe before the end of the year. It’s not been decided exactly where yet, but perhaps Malta, Sicily or Greece.” Most of these places are in Europe, but are there any other countries on their bucket list? “There are certainly many places we’d like to visit, but we don’t necessarily feel a rush to do them all at once! Some highlights though would definitely be Mexico, Colombia, Croatia, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.”

Before leaving them, I ask them if they have any pieces of advice for a couple willing to travel together. “Make time to do some things separately” they answer. “If you haven’t traveled extensively together as a couple before, it can take some time to work out what works for you and how much time you will want to spend together each day of your travels. You may also find that there are certain activities that you enjoy doing more by yourself, and that’s OK. There’s no pre-written set of rules about how much time you have to spend together as a couple while travelling, so make your own. Everyone needs alone time, no matter how much you love your partner!”

If you want to know more about Sam and Zab, make sure to check out their blog, facebook, twitter or instagram!

Author:

Elisa

Though she was born in France, Elisa usually describes herself as a world citizen. She has lived, studied, worked and travelled in more than 50 countries throughout her life and she loves to share her passion for the world with others. When she is not planning her next trip or writing about the last one, Elisa likes to help people in need and get involved in various not-for-profit projects. She enjoys meeting people wherever she goes, taking pictures of literally everything she finds interesting or funny and trying local food no matter the country she ends up in. Elisa usually travels with a big backpack carrying her “life”, which is why a lot of people she met along the way nicknamed her “the turtle”. Follow her on instagram @everydayimtravelin.